Interview of Mrs. Bush by Meredith Viera, NBC "Today" Show
NBC Studios
Rockefeller Center
New York, New York

7:10 A.M. EDT

Q First Lady Laura Bush is in New York to focus on global
issues, including health, literacy, and poverty.

Mrs. Bush, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much.

Q Get off your feet for a few minutes.

MRS. BUSH: That's right, it's nice to sit down for a second.

Q How do you like the new digs?

MRS. BUSH: I like it a lot. Very pretty. I like the way you
matched the colors with my suit.

Q To your suit. You look lovely. High definition, so Democrats
and Republicans are equal here --

MRS. BUSH: I don't know if I like that or not. (Laughter.)

Q That's right, it's dangerous for all of us. (Laughter.) I
mentioned before that you are here for a international conference on
global literacy --

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q -- but let me get to that. But you've been traveling all over
the world talking about literacy, and all over this country, really,
campaigning for Republican candidates. Is there any one issue that most
people ask you about, any one issue that stands out as the one most
asked?

MRS. BUSH: I think when I campaign, of course, I'm mainly doing
events with Republicans, and they say to me, tell the President to stay
the course, and those are the sort of things they say. But I know that
Americans are very interested in all issues that aren't just here,
aren't just our own domestic issues, but also are issues that are
worldwide. Many Americans do things to try to alleviate AIDS, for
instance, in Africa and around the world. And I get to meet those
people that do that.

Q And your number one issue right now, in terms of being here in
New York, really is global literacy.

MRS. BUSH: That's right. I'm hosting a conference on global
literacy this morning, with UNESCO, which is the U.N. agency that's
charged with education, and our own Education Department and State
Department. We have about 30 spouses of leaders from around the world
coming, as well as around 40 education ministers -- 200 people in all
are coming.

Q And these are countries that obviously have real issues with
literacy, obviously.

MRS. BUSH: That's right. That's right.

Q And you've promoted it in this country quite a bit, both as a
former librarian and a teacher --

MRS. BUSH: Sure.

Q -- and said that literacy is power. Why now focus outward?
Why take it out?

MRS. BUSH: Well, UNESCO -- we just rejoined UNESCO. The President
announced that we would rejoin UNESCO. We had left UNESCO during the
term of President Reagan, and we rejoined three years ago. And UNESCO
is charged with having a decade of literacy, of trying to address
illiteracy around the world. So they asked me to be the honorary
ambassador of that three years ago, at the New York Public Library,
which is where we'll be meeting this morning. And this is a way to try
to really focus on the countries that have the highest illiteracy rates.
About two-thirds of all the illiterate people in the world live in just
34 countries, and of course, those are the countries with the highest
poverty rates.

Q And most of them are women, which I find so interesting.

MRS. BUSH: That's right, nearly all of -- well, two-thirds of the
whole number of adult illiterates are women.

Q Why do you think that is, Mrs. Bush? And given that, even if
you have wonderful proposals, which you do, how do you convince the
governments in those countries to enact them?

MRS. BUSH: Well, of course, one reason that women are mainly the
number of illiterates is because women have been denied education
worldwide. I mean, it's happened everywhere over some amounts of time,
and still in many countries women are denied education.

Q So why are the governments going to grant it?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I don't -- I think also it's because women stay
at home. Women are the ones who are looking for clean water for their
children; they're the ones who are trying to feed their children at
home, and working at home. And girls are kept at home, not sent to
school.

And there are a number of ways we can address it. The World Food
Program has started feeding programs in schools, and we found that
parents will send their children, boys and girls, to school in countries
where there's a lot of poverty if they know their children will be fed.

I believe, of course, that all parents want the very best for their
children, no matter what country they're in around the world.

Q Do you feel that doing this, Mrs. Bush, will have an added
benefit, in the sense that our reputation around the world, fairly or
unfairly, has been tarnished in recent years -- do you hope that by
getting out there with this initiative, that somehow you can resurrect
--

MRS. BUSH: Well, that's certainly -- that would be a nice side
effect, if that's what happened. But, no, the real purpose of it is to
try to make sure governments invest in education for their citizens.
And the way -- any ways that UNESCO, as a U.N. agency, or other either
private foundations or our government can help, we will.

And our government already does. We have an African Education
Initiative, where we're publishing textbooks. Six American universities
are matched with six African countries, and they're publishing textbooks
in Africa that are traditional stories that African children would want
to know, and African teachers would want to teach.

And so there are many ways already that our government is working
on it. But today's conference will really be a charge to every nation
to invest in their people by investing in education. If people are
educated, economies are better. We know that the countries with the
highest education rates also have the best economies.

Q So it affects everybody.

I want to focus now for a second on what's going on here. The good
news is people love you. Your approval rating is 61 percent. The bad
news is that people don't feel quite the same way about your husband.
His approval rating is about 42 percent -- which may be why you're out
on the campaign trail. You tend to be the face, very often.

MRS. BUSH: Well, I'm on the campaign trail, but he is, too. But
you know that --

Q You've raised a tremendous amount of money -- I believe it's
$11 million -- for Republican candidates. When you are out there and
you meet somebody who's on the fence, isn't sure how they're going to
vote at this point, and they ask you about the war in Iraq, what do you
say to them?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I say exactly what the President says, that we
need to stay the course; that it's really in our interest as Americans
to make sure Iraq can build a stable democracy. You've seen lately, in
the last few weeks, the Prime Minister of Iraq talking here. They want
us to stay there, they want to be able to build a democracy. And if we
left now, we would leave a country without the support they need to
build a democracy.

I'm optimistic about it. I think they really can build a democracy
--

Q And yet, so many people are uneasy --

MRS. BUSH: Of course, people are. No one wants war. The
President doesn't want war. No one does.

Q How did the President respond -- he took a pounding in recent
days, not from Democrats, but from three key Republican senators who are
greatly opposed to his proposal for interrogating and trying those
suspected of terrorism. And they, in fact, said that it could undermine
-- the President's proposal could undermine our reputation around the
world. And beyond that, I just want to quote from Secretary of State --
former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said, "The world is
beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism. To
redefine Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions would add to those
doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk." Those are
strong words.

MRS. BUSH: Well, they are strong words. And the President has
asked the Congress to make sure that all of those articles are
specifically -- that they're the ones that make the laws, that they
write them so that they're very clear. And that's really important for
them to do. And they will come to some sort of consensus, I think, both
the President and the three senator and congressmen that you mention.
And I think that they will come out with something that's very clear.

Obviously, Americans are not for torture. And neither is the
President. But --

Q But the fact they question him, Mrs. Bush, and --

MRS. BUSH: Well, I wouldn't say that they question him --

Q -- his proposal.

MRS. BUSH: -- they're questioning some of the ideas. It's a whole
way that both the executive branch and the congressional branch work
together for the best for the United States. And that's what is going
on.

Q Did it upset or surprise him that these --

MRS. BUSH: No, not really. I mean, he knows these men very well,
obviously, all of them. He knows them very well; he knows what their
issues are. And he wants the Congress to make a clear definition, clear
legal definition so that we can proceed from that definition.
Obviously, he thinks it's very important to be able to interrogate in a
way that is not demeaning, because it's important for us to know to
protect ourselves as a country from terrorist attack. This is not like
any other war we've ever fought.

Q You know, if somebody had said to me six years ago that the
Bushes and the Clintons are going to be cozy, I would have said, you're
crazy. But first I see your father-in-law, the former President Bush,
joining forces with Bill Clinton in terms of tsunami and Katrina relief
--

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q -- and now you're going to be joining forces with Bill Clinton
on his initiative this Wednesday -- and at the same time, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, the Senator, has said some pretty strong things about your
husband. I think she referred to his presidency as the "fear factor"
presidency. Given your relationship now with Bill Clinton, how do you
reconcile those kinds of comments? Because if somebody said that about
my husband, I'd want to knock them, you know -- (laughter) -- just get
angry.

MRS. BUSH: You know, Presidents and First Ladies are sort of in
the same club; we all know what it's like to live in the White House.
We know what the criticisms are like from everyone, and especially from
the other party. So I understand that part of it.

I'm happy to have this chance to speak at President Clinton's
conference that he started, also during this week at the U.N. GA, when
so many world leaders are in town. And one thing he asked all of his
speakers to do is to come with some sort of commitment to his global
fund that he has. And so I'm excited to have --

Q -- put aside the politics --

MRS. BUSH: -- this chance to be able to be there and to talk about
a specific public/private partnership that the United States and a
United States foundation can join on for -- especially for Africa, but
also for other countries where clean water is an issue. It has to do
with water.

Q I have to ask you, as a mom of two daughters -- I have one
daughter -- your reaction to Madrid banning skinny models at the fashion
week. And in fact, that came up in London over the weekend. Do you
think that government should get involved in body image --

MRS. BUSH: Well, I don't see our government getting involved --

Q Should it?

MRS. BUSH: -- in skinny models. But our government is involved in
obesity and does talk about that a lot -- our Department of Health,
certainly -- and all the new studies that show how children are heavier
than they were in previous generations, for a lot of reasons we know,
from a lot of fast food, a lot of large portions, as well as, of course,
so much more time sitting, watching television or on the Internet or
playing video games.

Q Exactly, just not moving.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q One last question, Mrs. Bush. We're doing a segment later on,
on happiness, finding happiness later on in life. Are you happy? And
if so, how do you define it?

MRS. BUSH: I am happy. And you know what I think -- this is my
vantage point now, at almost 60 years old -- don't tell anybody
(laughter) --

Q I'm 53, you can tell. (Laughter.)

MRS. BUSH: -- if people are happy with what they do, if they find
a productive -- way to be productive in society, in whatever way, either
the work they do, coming to work every day on the "Today" Show, or
coming to -- working wherever, or just working at home in some ways,
raising kids, that if you feel like you're productive, if you're a
productive member of society, you're also a happy member of society.